I fucking hate these shitheads, I was arguing with one earlier and no matter how many facts I gave him with proper sources he just refused to actually show any kind of respect
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
915 points (100.0% liked)
196
16465 readers
1900 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Typically the word refers to communists that are pro-authoritarian, pro-military force, and some amount of bizarrely nationalist.
The word is also, confusingly, used to describe all communists (by people that don't like communists) and several other subcategories. Really, you can't ever guess how someone means it when you see them say it. Some people self-describe as tankie, either because they fully agree with the term, or because people call them that anyways.
On lemmy, 90% of the time, "tankie" just literally means "someone from lemmygrad or hexbear", which is kinda fairly earned, because that is where all the pro-authoritarian, pro-military force, bizarrely nationalist communists hang out, but to be clear, not all of the people in those communities are like that.
Also they hate being defined this way. They will ramble for hours about how "anti-authoritarian" isn't real or is counter productive, and more like that. While spamming weird left unity emojis every time someone mentions anarchism...
Which is hilariously ironic given the term was created by communists
so it isn't necessarily bad when someone is just communist right? but obviously the problems start when they're pro authoritarian and shit
If you want my opinion, the biggest keystone flaw in their thinking is being so ready to support/defend any nation that is or has ever described itself as communist. There is a lot of toxicity from nationalism that leads to things like pro-authoritarianism and advocating military force, and you can see it from nationalists whether they are communist or not.
Eta: But no, I don't think this kinda stuff is inherent to communism. I think it is common in people who crave the validity of state-backed communism more than they are willing to scrutinize the history and peoples involved with the states they are supporting
I see, I think I understand a little better now
You might find this helpful
https://medium.com/international-workers-press/misconceptions-about-communism-2e366f1ef51f